16 Amarnath pilgrims killed, 27 injured in accident

Sixteen Amarnath pilgrims were killed and around 27 injured, 19 of them critically, when a bus skidded off the Jammu-Srinagar national highway and rolled into a deep nullah in the Ramban district of Jammu and Kashmir today, officials said.The deceased belonged to UP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Assam, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh, they said. Two women were among the sixteen who died, they added.

A bus carrying pilgrims skidded off the road, turned turtle, and rolled down into the nullah at the Nachlana belt of Ramban late this afternoon, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Ramban, Mohan Lal said.

The J&K State Road Transport Corporation (JKSRTC) bus was part of a convoy carrying 3,603 pilgrims from Jammu to the twin base-camps of Baltal and Pahalgam enroute the cave shrine of Amarnath in South Kashmir Himalayas, police officials said.